Question 1: Did you write to ___ for ___? And have you gotten the response yet?
Answer: When I blog about a response, which I 95% of the time do, I make sure to list it on "A Collection of Some of the Responses I've Received" Page. So, that is always a good place to start, but always feel free to ask about a specific one.
I am always so glad to see more and more people writing letters. Letter writing is not just for when you are angry and want to complain, but can also be a great way to connect with someone and show you care. If the only people who wrote to the Royals were people who wanted to disband the Monarchy, it would be pretty sad.
Letter writing is NOT about get a cool response. But about you have something to say, even if it is something as simple as telling Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, she is "Really, Really Cool & will someday make a Great Queen!"
For those who keep asking, I haven't gotten, nor have I hear of others getting responses for:
- William's Birthday
- Charlotte's Christening
- George's Birthday
- Madeline of Sweden's Birthday
- Carl Philip and Sofia's Wedding
- Madeline and Chris's birth of 2nd child, Nicolas
- Victoria's Birthday
As you can tell I like the British & Swedish Royals a lot (also Denmark and Monaco). Which is also why I don't have many responses from other Royals, because I only write to Royals and for Occasions I sincerely care about.
It normally takes about 1-2 months for a response. The one time I wrote to Sweden before, it took 2.5 months for a response. So it may take a while, especially with it being summer and people are taking holidays.
For the most part, expect letters to come in Chronological order. So don't expect a reply for Prince George's birthday before Clarence House has sent out the replies for Charlotte's Christening & William's birthday.
To the 2 people, who on last month's Q&A, said they didn't get their responses yet, Let me know when you get yours. I worry! I know Clarence House wasn't done sending out response for Princess Charlotte's birth at that time (I saw some as recently as last week), and you needed to give a little more time for a response from the Queen.
Camila just sent out her birthday response, I got it 2 days ago, I know some people haven't yet, but don't worry. Clarence House doesn't send out all the responses on the same day. They respond to letters in batches based on when they came in/ the type. Plus, Camilla may have took a few days to hand-sign the notes, instead of doing it all at once.
Question 2: When will Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neil's son Prince Nicolas be Christened?
Answer: October 11th at the Royal Chapel at Drottningholm Palace.
Question 3: When does Prince Harry get back from Africa?
Answer: We don't have a exact date, but we have been hearing Mid-september. Harry has a number of engagements in September and October so he will definitely be back in time for that..
List of Harry's engagements for 2015
Question 4: Can I write to Princess Beatrice for her birthday this month? I didn't see her name on your list of addresses and I want to know where to send a birthday card and if I will get a response.
Answer: You can definitely write to Princess Beatrice for her birthday, and you will get a response. The reason neither Beatrice or Eugenie are on the list of addresses is because they aren't working royals and don't have their own office. But you can still write to them. Letter should be sent to Prince Andrew's office and they will be the ones responding to your letter or card.
The Address is:
Princess Beatrice
Duke of York's Office
Buckingham Palace
Duke of York's Office
Buckingham Palace
Question 5: Was Pippa really asked to be Catherine's Lady-in-waiting?
Answer: No, I don't believe Pippa was ever asked to be a Lady-in-Waiting. Catherine doesn't have any Lady-in-waiting. But if she did, I don't think Catherine would have chosen Pippa, and I don't think Pippa would have wanted the Position.
Ladies-in-Waiting do a number of different thing for a royal. Some of what they do, is attend official engagements with the royal. The Lady-in-waiting will assist the Royal by directing them to where they are to go next, reminding them who they are meeting and their names, collecting flowers and cards, etc. A Lady-in-Waiting is suppose to blend into the background, and I don't think Pippa could ever do that. The media was quite found of Pippa when William and Catherine got engaged and continues to be fond. I also think Catherine wouldn't want her sisterly relationship with Pippa to change. A Lady-in-waiting is subject to certain protocol and the Middleton's have always been a haven to escape royal life.
I don't think Pippa would have wanted a life of answering Catherine's letters, walking a few steps behind, etc as a full time job. Pippa has since made her own Career as a writer, travels the world, etc. I think Pippa very much enjoys her freedom and independence.
Question 6: As often as you write, do you ever wonder if perhaps the secretaries start to recognize certain peoples names since they are always sending letters?
Answer: I would defiantly think that secretaries notices people who write often, if they are distinctive and memorable. This is a little different scenario, but think of Terry Hutt at Lindo Wing getting a cake from the Cambridge Staff for his 80th birthday.
Terry has been around for decades and is well know by the Royals. He always shows up wearing Red, White and Blue and has been nicknamed the "Union Jack Man." The Royals will always give him a wave when they see him at events and sometimes stop and chat.
I haven't been writing letters that long (I sent my 1st letter a year ago for Prince George's 1st birthday) and so I have only written to most of the royals only once or twice. I mostly just write for people's birthday and other important events.
Question 7: Do you know of anyone who writes for even more occasions or has been doing it for multiple years? I know it takes time to collect, so it would be cool to find someone who has tons of replies.
Answer: You want to talk to Marlene Koenig @royalmusing. She has decades worth of letters and a lot of great historical knowledge.
I know some other people who write letters, but I can't really think of them at the moment. Most of them are more recent.
I should probably, shamelessly, plug my twitter friend Ethan @eth4nfloyd who just started a Tumbler about Writing to the Royals. I like to think I played a part in inspiring him. There isn't much there now, but it will grow as he writes and gets more letters. Always interesting to see how someone else responses differ from my own. The link to the Tumblr is here: http://writing-to-the-royals.tumblr.com
Question 8: Do you have any info on how much the royals pay for their official portraits? I.e. Mario Testino taking the Christening portraits
Answer: No, we don't have any info on that. The cost of official portraits for events like christening, weddings, etc would be met by the Royal Family privately. My guess is that the photographer isn't being pay much. No one is making any money off these photos, they are practically just given away to the media. The photographer, however, does get the media attention, the pictures that will be remembered for decades and he or she gains this credential of being a royal portrait photographer.
Question 9: Do you have any more info on Prince Harry joining Walk of Britain?
Answer: We know that Prince Harry will join the Walk for the Wounded team for part of their Walk of Britain 2015 trek (August 22th - October 31st). Prince Harry announced this when he became Patron of the walk in March. We have not been told by KP yet for what part or how long Harry will be joining the team. Obviously he has to get back from Africa first.
Walk with the Wounded's Walk of Britain 2015 is a 1,000 mile charity walk by 6 wounded veterans (4 UK, 2 USA) from Scotland to Buckingham Palace to raise money and awareness for wounded veterans.
Question 10: I haven't received a reply from the birth of Princess Charlotte, I sent it a month after she was born. Should I be worried?
Answer: No, don't worry. Clarence House has been very busy and behind on sending out letters, especially if you wrote your letter late. The responses were not all mailed out at once, but over months. You would have sent your letter for Princess Charlotte's birth around the same time I sent mine for Prince William's birthday and I haven't received a reply yet for that.
My guess is that since the Royals tend to take August off, the Correspondence Section as uses this time to take holidays as well. Meaning basically subtract August from the 1-2 month normal response time (and add some extra time do to the large amount of mail they have been receiving).
I wrote for Camila's birthday last month and received a reply (2 weeks ago), but my friend hasn't yet. I would have thought that since Camila was hand signing the replies that they would all be sent out around the same time. But that hasn't happened. Which again shows how slow the Correspondence Section at Clarence House is being, and not nearly as many people write to Camilla for her birthday as they do the Cambridges.
I would expect your reply to be sent out around the same time as Prince William's birthday replies. So, if you start seeing Princess Charlotte's Christening replies, then I would worry.
Question 11: Can you do a post on Diana?
Answer: I would absolutely love write a post Princess Diana. I really can't believe I haven't already.
What would you like this post to be about?
For William, Catherine and Harry I have their list of Official Patronages and Official Engagements for this year. But obviously Diana no longer has either. I have also never written to Diana, so I don't have any letters.
I feel like a lot about Princess Diana has already been said. I certainly don't have nearly as much expert knowledge on Diana as a Royal Biographer. So I don't see the point in posting something that you can read in a book that is 100% better.
But if there is something you don't think is being addresses, that you think I have the knowledge to write about, I would love to make a post about.
Question 12: At Trooping the Colour this year was William wearing a ring? In a photo with Georgie where they're waving bye it look like he is.
Answer: No, Prince William does not wear a wedding ring or a signet ring.
12A: It's a photograph katewillgoergelottie posted on IG
Answer: I couldn't find either the Instagram account, so I don't know what picture you are referring to. But as far as I know Prince William has never worn a ring and certainly wasn't wearing one at the Trooping.
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